As a child, I always had a camera in my face. My mom loved taking pictures constantly, and it drove me insane! Everywhere we went she had the camera in front of her face. I would beg her to let me do something without having my picture taken, but she rarely gave in. I remember when we vacationed to the Grand Canyon and stayed on multiple different parts of it for multiple days just so she could photograph it as if it didn’t look the same from each part. She was obsessed, and I was annoyed. Knowing that it may seem a bit shocking that I am now a photographer and I regularly stick my camera in people’s faces. Somehow, through my fake smiles and aggravation with her camera, I picked up on her creative eye. I started to learn photography by watching my mother, and I fell in love with it.
My first gig was photographing my cousin’s wedding. Did you catch that? My FIRST job as a photographer was documenting someone’s wedding day! No big deal. It’s just the most important day of their entire lives in the hands of a girl who had just purchased her first Nikon a mere two weeks before! I had no logo, no business cards, no fancy equipment. Just an entry-level Nikon DSLR and a creative eye. If I learned anything at all from that wedding, it was that prayer works! Somehow, by some miracle, I pulled it off. Not only did I pull it off, but the bride and groom loved the photos. I’m pretty sure the bride’s Facebook profile picture is still one of the photos I took. Here is a couple from my first wedding. It didn’t hurt that the venue was stunning.
From that moment, I had clarity. This was my passion. I loved photographing them. I loved seeing the love in their eyes. I loved capturing those special moments for them. I loved being a photographer. I was scared, very uneducated in the photography world, had very little equipment, and no idea how to run a business, but I was passionate. After classes, training and lots of prayer, I have grown significantly. Thanks to my mom for instilling the creativity in me, amazing photographer friends who poured into me, and Jesus Christ for blessing me with such a passion, I am who I am today. I am a lover of Christ, a mom of two spoiled cats, a daughter, a friend, an artist, and a photographer.
To me, photography is an art. It is an act of creativity that should beautifully describe the subject being photographed. I see photography as a way to see God’s beautiful world, rather than just look at it. I don’t just want to take pictures. I want to capture moments that need to be remembered. I want to document happiness and genuine smiles and laughter that should never be forgotten.
-Mae Grace
Mae Grace, LLC 